Modus Operandi
by Tancong
Summary: A story about a lone mercenary who has yet to find his way. In a world where Talon and Overwatch are at odds with each other, what will a single man be able to do for himself and the world?
1. The Reaper

Some say that the first time a person kills another, they learn something about themselves. Not morality. Not honor. Not about the inherent evil of mankind or their capability. They learn whether they can sleep the night after or they can't.

However, life is never so simple. Nothing is ever so black and white. Even those who can't sleep may not regret a single thing they did, even if the memory will haunt them for life. As for those who can sleep, well there is plenty to talk about.

There are those who can sleep peacefully, knowing that they had done the right thing. The righteous ones, the ones who followed the way of the world saw fit and are commended for their efforts. Those who sleep peaceful nights knowing that what they did was completely justified and necessary.

And then, there are those who sleep and dream. They dream not of those they have killed but of those they have yet to kill and trained their mind and eyes to kill.

Some group them all as psychopaths, those who are insane and turn into serial killers with no remorse and no purpose. However, that was not always true. There was a difference between a psychopath and a high-functioning sociopath after all. One of them does not allow themselves to get caught.

There was a figure hooded in black who has killed and been killed. There was a man who dreamt of faces of the living, those who he vowed to get his vengeance on. _There_ was a man with a purpose, conviction, and emotions that make his more powerful than any killers in the world.

When the scent of gunfire and blood reached him, the man called Reaper would come to meet the icy eyes of a man who was like him. Eyes who dreamt of death and is a harbinger of death. However, there would be something different.

Some say that to truly understand someone, a person must fight them. But they need not go so far. If the battle is true, then it only took a glance of the eye to understand the opponent. Even the world's best poker player could not hide their true intention and purpose when their eyes gleamed with the desire to kill.

Desire. Now that was a strong word. There are many desires. Yet the desire to kill was the only one that others can feel the best. The tingling on one's neck or the slash of pressure against one's body as they feel the intent of the blade to find them. The best of the best honed this sense, reacting before their opponents even struck. Only then could they learn to hide it.

The man who stood in front of Reaper was one of such man. He knew not what the stranger wanted nor how he was going to attack. All he saw in the man's eyes was the conviction that he would accomplish the task he came to do.

That, and the hardened nature of eyes who have seen Death, greeted him with a warm smile, and offered to help him with his job. This was a man who dreamt not of his nemesis but spent his life training every moment for survival. The scarred body and face of someone who experienced danger firsthand while training himself every other moment. And the mind of someone who continued to train even as he slept.

"What is your business here?"

The stranger blinked and looked around him, raising an eyebrow as if he had been greeted with a nonsensical question unworthy of his time. However, he replied regardless, his expression unchanging as his eyes remained focused on his objective.

"You. I was wondering how many more of these I would have to carve through. You people sure love your minions. At least give them some useful weapons for once. I get bored of using my gun now and then. Life is rough for mercenaries everywhere isn't it."

The stranger held twin pistols that did not stand out besides flawless their onyx paint. Well, the butt of the gun was not, indicating that more than a few heads had gotten bashed in on the way here but overall, it was rather unscratched.

Talon was going to have to seriously up their recruit training after all. Well, they were a mercenary organization at best. Such funding was better spent on resources for the council and mission assets for the main strike team.

"Well, here I am. What is it that you want?"

The man's expression changed from its neutral stoic state to an annoyed state of disbelief. That was the only answer he felt fitting before he raised his pistols and fired.

In the world of mercenaries, life and death did not have anything to do with chivalry. As such, the man had no obligation to wait for Reaper to draw his guns. That was accepted. What the man was probably not accepting was for Reaper to phase into a cloud of smoke and flowed right past the bullets.

In a world of hard-light construction, resurrection from the dead, and a literal talking gorilla scientist, people didn't live through war by being shocked and calling bullshit on everything. The bullets kept flying toward Reaper until there were no more.

The shadow moved quickly forward toward the next cover, shotgun raised in wait for the man to peek from his. The twin pistols came from the other side, raining yet more bullets down toward Reaper.

An expert knew how to count bullets. With Reaper, it was clear whenever he threw his shotguns away that he ran out of bullets. With the stranger, Reaper counted 13 shots per pistol, totaling in 26 shots.

Another cover was taken and Reaper peeked around the side to fire his shotgun directly at where he thought the man was. However, he had already moved. A volley from the side forced Reaper into his wraith form once more, evading death as he found cover.

Most people make the mistake of never looking up. No matter how many games and movies are released about assassinations from above, they never did. However, as Reaper descended upon the man, he was forced in wraith form as bullets ascended from below.

16.

The mist descended onto the ground, the man rolling out of the way and preemptively firing at the center where the figure would appear.

10.

Reaper spun to the side of the tall metal beam, firing his shotgun at the man's location and forcing him to roll out of the way.

4.

Reaper quickly advanced, his energy draining but the fact not showing on him as he wraith formed to close the gap and dropped his empty shotguns behind him.

0.

The last four shots rang out as Reaper dodged them expertly, throwing his fist at the figure wearing light synthetic chest armor and combat pants. There was no trace of flair or bad attempts at camouflage to be found on the man who knew what his capabilities were and what the mission needed from him.

The man's fist ripped through a cloud of black mist where Reaper's face had been, making him grit his teeth and turn around quickly with an elbow. Reaper pinned him up close, gripping his armor by the neck and cracking it with ease.

Bang.

Reaper's eyes widened as the man smirked, a bullet ripping through the black armor and into Reaper's torso. However, a quick strike to his neck left him gasping for air even as he was thrown to the ground.

A black shotgun was aimed at his face as his hand was painfully kicked to remove his other pistol. This was all accompanied with a boot on his chest as he tried to get back up for another chance to fight, making him freeze and his eyes stained with disgust and indignation.

"That's enough."

A booming voice in the near distance made Reaper pause and look behind him, though never moving his foot away. Out of the bottom corner of his hazy vision, he could see a broad dark-skinned man approaching, wearing an unmistakable gauntlet on his right hand.

"Mister Nyx. I've heard much about you. Well, not really. Only a bit in prison, but not much beyond inmates with a grudge for being caught."

The man did not crouch next to Nyx. Instead, he simply stood high above, blocking the sun as Nyx gazed up at him. Akande then smiled and offered a hand.

"Considering that you managed to singlehandedly put a bullet in Reaper here and your reputation with dealing with other powerful individuals, I have a proposal that may interest you. It's not one you can't refuse. Of course, the result of refusing would be death but that's besides the point. You do have the choice."

"Join us, or die."

Nyx blinked up at the man towering above him. His glance was then gazed up at the sky. It was an important question of course. He had asked himself that many times in his life. Many of them were recently too.

However, he was not a man without a purpose in life. Despite having many reasons to refuse, betraying his employer was not one of them. What was an employer to a freelancing mercenary?

"You know. It's hard to say yes when you have someone stepping on your lungs."

Reaper stared down at Nyx, renewing the pressure of his foot before Akande laughed and tapped his shoulder. Only then did the boot get removed, allowing Nyx to get a full breath and a chance to prop himself up with a painful grunt.

"Welcome to Talon. Refer to me by Akande and that's all you'll need to know about us. From now on, we'll make sure you have plenty of work to do."

Nyx simply stood up and gazed at the thoroughly scratched paint of his pistols with a sigh. He picked them up and dropped the magazine, one with an extra bullet remaining. He would not need to reload it anymore for the day.

And so, began his new story.


	2. The Wanderer

"You sure agreed rather easily."

Nyx looked over at Akande who was flanked by Reaper. The wound in the man's torso seemed to already have started healing. In all honesty, that man was a monster. Not because of his appearance or abilities. Well, ok his abilities may play a part in it. But he was someone who would walk through an army and come back fully healthy within a day if he really needed to.

Nyx had done this research of course but even then there was only so much he could do. There were no advanced combat gear designed to fight a person who can literally turn into smoke, walk up to your squad, and instantly kill everyone. Even _he_ barely managed to dodge the shots and preemptively move in and engage at close range. If he had tried to run, it was unlikely that he would be walking right now.

Believe it or not, getting shot with a shotgun was not a pleasant experience. While it may not have immediately resulted in his death depending on the angle, it was always preferable to not be shot with one at all. Or be shot by anything actually. But one man could only do so much.

As such, Nyx simply focused his attention back in front of him with a sigh. At least they didn't cuff him and shove him around like some sort of rebellious slave. There was some respect among mercenaries at the very least. While a bit unexpected, he was glad he was being treated with it.

"Contrary to popular belief, death is not all that exciting from what I heard. Well, at least the people I introduced the concept to didn't seem to like it. I figured I would postpone on trying it myself for now."

Nyx then shrugged and places his hands behind his head as he walked, looking up at the roof of the facility for a moment before back down again after finding nothing of interest.

"Besides, it's not as if I have any loyalty to my employer. I don't even know who they are."

Akande raised an eyebrow. "Is that so. I am inclined to express my disbelief and propose that you reconsider your answer before I figure out another way to express my disbelief."

"For once, I think he's telling the truth."

The owner of the Spanish-laced voice appeared in purple sporting an … interesting hairstyle stepped out handing Akande a tablet and crossing her arms over her chest. She looked Nyx over before smirking.

"Well, at least you look the part of a mercenary with 156 completed contracts. It's a shame we have to put one termination on your record. You are quite popular you know. The name is Sombra."

Akande handed the tablet back to Sombra, the four standing there for a moment as he turned to address Nyx. "Can you prove that this is you?"

Nyx let out a soft sigh and threw a glance at the backpack that Reaper had in hand. It was a bit tattered from all the rolling and crushing during the fight but its content was _probably_ fine. With a nod from Akande, Nyx got his backpack back, retrieving his phone and used his fingerprint to unlock it.

There were only three icons on the device. The phone, a GPS tracking application, and one called . Nyx tapped on the Crime Net icon and brought up the application, allowing it to scan his thumbprint, iris, and voice sample.

"Is the login process always this damn complicated?"

Sombra chuckled at Reaper as if chastising the figure in black for a naive question. "Why do you think I haven't been able to hack it out of all things? A server ran by multiple instances on every device that accesses it, verifying and cross-checking every detail between all the clients in real-time with data encrypted with a unique 400 character code. Of course the login process is going to be just as bad. Now we not only need to cut out his eyes and thumb but get him to talk normally as well."

Nyx navigated to his crime net profile, phone still in plain sight of the other three as to ensure them that he was not doing anything sneaky. Akande took it and compared it to the profile on Sombra's tablet, making a semi-impressed expression on his face that quickly vanished as soon as it appeared.

Meanwhile, Nyx did not waste a moment to join in with bullying the man who had taken him down. Or perhaps it was trying to ensure that Reaper and the others wouldn't try to actually take his thumb and eye. He was rather fond of them after all.

"Besides, there's no point in gaining access to my profile. There's really nothing interesting on there. It doesn't have my information or any of my clients' information. Hell, it doesn't even have my face on it."

Sombra sighed. "You're lucky your name is somewhat famous on crime net and that Akande here heard about you from your other targets in prison. Otherwise, you'd be a human boat in the nearby river by now."

She then smirked. "Actually, I _could_ use your account to try and spread a virus to the other servers. It's hard to find crime net account holders after all. The verification and access level progression is hell after all."

Nyx sighed as he received his phone back, gazing down at the screen and terminating the contract to assassinate the figure in black.

"Sounds like you already tried once. You must realize by now that you would need to shut down more systems that to gain a majority vote to override the main server's information. With the encryption system now relying on the atmospheric ambiance that refreshes every 2 minutes, you wouldn't even be able to shut down a tenth of the systems online, let alone half of them."

Sombra frowned at him then, watching as Nyx put the phone back into the bag with a nod of thanks to Reaper. Well, technically Reaper wasn't his bag carrier. It was for security purposes. Then again, Nyx was never one to linger on technicalities. All that mattered was that he had someone to carry his backpack for him. Now _that_ was a pleasure he never had before in his life.

"Is that why the new encryption is such a pain. Wait, how do you know th-"

Nyx smiled coyly, "I _may_ have slid an idea to the crime net forum and watch the others discuss and develop the algorithm. I thought I might have been able to use it to find a loophole since it's my idea, but as it stands no one has a loophole. Not even the developers. So there's that."

Sombra groaned and frowned at her tablet, seeming to go and delete several pages of notes or some other documents of similar importance. As she walked off with her obligatory welcome completed, she was muttering something about 'stupid community boy scouts' and some obscenity about the weather.

Akande watched her walk away before turning back to Nyx. "Well, in any case, I suppose you're truly a professional mercenary then. In that case, you should know how things are. We'll get you some training to gauge your skill and get you acquainted with working in a team. Sombra gave me a report of your highlight contracts and what it told us about you but we gotta make sure."

He thought for a moment before nodding. "Other than that, there is nothing else you need to know about Talon. You will be tracked for our security but since you know nothing, it comes at a greater risk to you than us if you wandered off and allowed yourself to get caught."

Nyx raised his hand and asked very calmly, "Is dental included or do I have to buy insurance?"

Akande let out a small _hmph_ with a half smile at the edge of his lips. "We have a doctor or two on site. They're not great, as much as I would like to praise my organization. I'd recommend you maintain your own hygiene and try not to get hurt."

He offered a hand which Nyx met confidently, not faltering or weakening in his own grip despite being almost crushed by the man's iron grip on his left hand.

"It sounds like you'll fit right in. I won't say that I'll look forward to working with you, I'm not so keen on putting you on a team with the same person you tried to kill. But considering your reputation and lack of loyalty toward a faceless client, I will consider it."

As he walked away, Akande did not even bother to look over his shoulder as he gave Nyx his last words.

"You may go back to your establishment if you wish as long as you tell no one about your new involvement with us. If you want to bring anything back, inform us beforehand or else we may launch a missile or two at you. Reaper could take down a Svyatogor mech by himself you know."

"Other than that, try to not get too comfortable. Reaper will show you to the dormitory and some other member will give you a tour. The food is not bad, give it a try."

Only now did he stop and throw a grin at Nyx over his shoulder, "As for your pay, consider it to be your life. Don't splurge on your paycheck too soon."

And then, the man was gone for good, probably off to some important conference or room somewhere. The place wasn't the headquarters of Talon for sure, the excessive surveillance he did during their walk told him that much. It was just an outpost or temporary base of operation.

Nyx walked in silence with the man in black, nodding his thanks as he inspected the tracking device he was given and clipping it securely onto his inner pocket. He then looked over Reaper while they continued to walk toward the dormitory.

"You all seem rather lax on this whole security thing. I was given my life and have the freedom to do almost whatever I wanted. Hell, I was even allowed to leave and just ditch this tracking device forever if I wanted to."

In response, Reaper returned the backpack to Nyx, furthering his confusion about the fact of the matter. If anything, he had expected to be strong armed and be under heavy watch for a long while before he would even be allowed outside.

"The thing is, we've all been a mercenary or something of the sort in our lives. Every one of us has their own way to escape this contract if they wished. An operative who did not want to work here would not make an operative that was good enough. They would cause more harm than good to the organization."

Nyx raised an eyebrow and glanced to his side at the calm, gravely explanation from his left. "And what about the infamous Widowmaker?"

Now there was a pause, the masked visage betraying no thoughts and no response that Nyx could gather. The dorm was in their sights by the time he received a reply, as unexpected as it was.

"That … was a necessary exception. I suggest you do not try to pry more into it, though it would not matter even if you found out. Your place is not to question or try to change the organization's moral code."

Reaper then stopped, nodding his head toward the dormitory and the people talking in the front. It was time for them to part ways. To Talon, Nyx was simply another recruit until he proved his worth. Until then, he will have to deal with boring and menial tasks. Only once he did all those things would he promote and earn more money while getting a chance to work with those three individuals he had just met. If he even wanted to.

"Besides, it's not as if we're losing anything by letting you go instead of killing you. I'm sure the contract won't show up again. No one is idiotic enough to try to send a single mercenary in and reveal that they have knowledge of our outpost location. Regardless, it's a pain that you showed up, seeing as we'll have to relocate soon."

The smirk beneath the man's mask was visible despite his face being completely concealed. It was a side effect of the arrogant and challenging aura that the man gave off. _That_ was something that Nyx had plenty of experience with. They were not so different after all.

"As for the chance of you using this excuse to try to get your revenge on losing, well we already know which one of us is the stronger fighter. There is absolutely no risk in leaving you here. A man with no motivation to damage Talon. If we give you a reason to fight for and a support for your life, that's all you need right?"

"Who knows, maybe you'll even be there to see when we bring the end to the world. If you're anything like us, then I'm sure you'll find yourself suddenly becoming a monster in a field of sheep when it comes."

"Doesn't that sound interesting, mercenary?"

Nyx smiled to himself and shake his head in disbelief as he watched the figure walk off. The man was something else. Beyond being a monster made of black smoke, he was a human. A man with the intuitions of a leader and a mercenary. Something about him said that had things been different, he would have made a fine commander for humanity. Alas, there he was, a monster in black and a vengeance without any lack.

He was right. It did sound interesting. There were only so many reasons that a person would become a mercenary. There were only so many things a killer could be good at. There are only so many kills that a person can take joy in before they lose their focus on what they wanted from life.

Who was he? What did he truly want? Why did he fight? These were all questions that he once had answers for. Answers that became lost with time and so he lost himself. The answers in their place that he fabricated felt empty and hollow.

He thought himself to be a man with honor once. Talon had a grand goal, even if it did not represent honor as known by the peaceful world beyond. He was sure that he was a believer in love, justice, and heroes once.

Justice. That was a pretty word. Justice came to all, in some form or another. That was what he had believed. When it died was when he realized that it was not true. Not everyone received their due of justice. Not everyone was fated to pay their dues and 'get what they deserved.' No, it was never so simple in this world. And when his sense of justice died, he lost his belief in everything else in the world.

Nyx shook himself mentally from these thoughts. There were many philosophical questions he could contemplate. There were many questions that he could consider and lead him to regret things in his past. However, there was no reason for him to do so.

Perhaps he had let his life waste away during the past few years. Perhaps what he did had no meaning and brought him no closer to the answers he desired. What did matter was that it all led him here. Whether by fate or his own foolishness, Nyx had arrived at a place called Talon. A place with those alike to him yet with their answers. A milestone on his path to the answers he so desired.

Yes, he was a wanderer. A wanderer on the journey of life, a journey where nothing was certain except the breath that he took. A world where death's whispers can be ignored and rejected by smoke and angels. A world where the ground could be a precarious light bridge at the whim of an architect. A world where love, justice, honor, and so many things could be found all around, yet at the same time nowhere at all.

Yes, he was a wanderer. But a wanderer is not always lost. He just did not know where he needed to go yet. So for now, Talon will have to do.


End file.
